It’s raining, it’s pouring…the old man is snoring.
But you don’t have to!
1. Museum of World Insects and Natural Wonders
72 Nimmanhemin Road, Soi 13
053 211 891
insectmuseum@hotmail.com
A crazy, weird and utterly captivating museum cluttered with all sorts of oddities, from a piece of meteorite to a collection of mosquito species named after the museum owners who discovered them. You can see beetles all prettily pinned against the wall or clumps of amber housing petrified – in both senses of the word – critters. Bugs, beasts, boogey creatures…all nice and harmless, unlike the real things out in the rainy jungles.
2. Silversmithing
100 Wua Lai Road
We have all seen those clever silversmiths along the Old Sankampaeng factories, so why not try your hand at a DIY silver bowl, picture frame, or pair of earrings. At the Wat Sri Suphan temple, which claims to be the first temple built with silver, you can craft under an awning providing shelter from the rain over the workshop tables, and the monks are always available for assistance.
If you aren’t too precious about your nails, grab a few mates and head off to the bowling alley for the afternoon. Get some teams going or better yet, get a huge crowd and hire out the entire place. Air con comfort, indoor car park so no getting wet when it pours, beer towers, food, loud music and a bit of friendly competition. What’s not to love?
4 .Get Wetter
Rain schmain. It’s hardly cold around here anyway and you will have all the waterfalls, lakes, rivers and puddles to yourself. Put on a tank top, slip on some shorts, grab a large brolly and a picnic basket laden with goodies, head off to Huay Tung Tao and huddle with friends in a grass hut or crouch with a beer under an overhang at Pa Ngerb waterfall (on the way up Doi Suthep). Better yet, head a few more kilometres up to Montatarn Waterfall and have yourself a frolic, rain be damned.
Wend your way up the mountain, a good half hour’s drive from the city and find yourself in the plush and sexy lounge of the Veranda Resort. Huge day beds with fluffy pillows, stunning woven bamboo architecture and views of the infinity pool off in the green distance is the perfect backdrop for you and your friends (or lover) to sit back with a glass of wine and snuggle up as it buckets down all around.
If you are a mall person (and by the number of new ones opening up, most of us are), then head to the spanking new Promenada, any of the Star Avenues or even ye olde Kad Suan Kaew and make that credit card pay for the misery this rainy day has brought you. Chances are you will feel a helluvalot better for it…until the end of the month.
A rainy day provides the perfect, guilt-free opportunity for a long and leisurely afternoon meal. Here’s a great spot with a view, situated alongside the San Sai rice paddies, which turn a brilliant green during rainy season. Chow down on an assortment of tasty Western and Thai cuisine along with fresh coffee and bakery items. The cafe is also home to a small art gallery and provides ceramics workshops for post-meal craft time.
